This island is full

Well my vacation is officially underway. And not a moment too soon. We get a week off for the Japanese holiday of Obon. This is the holiday where, traditionally, Japanese families will return to the cemetaries of their ancestors to pay tribute and make offerings in an attempt to keep the spirits happy and prevent them from bothering the families throughout the year. I wonder to what extent this still happens, because during my informal poll of my Japanese co-workers, none of them planned to take part in this ritual. They were all going traveling in and around Japan.

And my plans were no less. The first stop this week was Tokyo. One of the largest cities in the world, if not THE largest. It is also home to the busiest intersection in the world. It was very busy and we weren't even there at the busiest time. This island is full.

My first view of Tokyo. This area is known as Shijuku. I couldn't believe all of the people.

As we were walking around, we passed . . . of all places. . . Wolfgang Puck Express. My old boss is global. I had never eaten in this restaurant in America. But we decided to go in and check it out.

The menu was pretty much all in Japanese, so we weren't really sure what we were getting. But it was good.

We did some more wandering and then decided it was time for a break from people. Erin knew this great little park close by. So we went and sat by the lake and watched the water jets in the lake. It reminded me so much of Geneva.

Then we decided it was time to head to Shibuya. The busiest intersection in the world. I am told that it wasn't all that busy while we were there. Even still I could not believe all of the people.

And the city lights were so amazing. No wonder I never see stars here.

And since we weren't tired from all the walking w had already done. We decided we needed to go to Tokyo Tower. It has pretty much the same structure as the Eiffel Tower, but its about 9 meters taller or 27 feet. I am told that it is going to be torn down soon, because it has become obsolete. It is a radio tower of some sort, but Japan is going digital, much like the rest of the world. So they won't be needing it anymore. I think they should keep it as a lure for tourists. It lured me, but how much does my opinion count for.

This was some weird shrine or something on the way to the tower. There must have been thousands of these little statues, all with little red crocheted hats. I'm not really sure what there significance was, but I couldn't believe how many of them there were.
This was the wall around the weird little crocheted hat shrine. And Erin and I were trying to be artsy.

And that brings us to the reason for exhausting our poor tired feet. Tokyo Tower. I have a picture of this exact same angle of the Eiffel Tower.

And who can come all this way and not take a ride up in the elevator and look out at the city. As far as you could see it was nothing but city lights. My friend said you can ride the train in Tokyo for hours going straight and still be in Tokyo. After seeing this view, I believe it.

Another view of the city.

And now we are back down. I really do think the tower is quite pretty, but maybe that is just because it reminds me of my favorite city in the world.

Then it was time to head back to the train station and find a train that would take us back to Erin's apartment so we could get some much needed rest.